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Feeding people has always been a part of Éric Daigneault’s life. His parents owned a Métro grocery store where he spent the first 17 years of his life. To all intents and purposes, he was raised in a supermarket.
Marie-Hélène Gagné’s love of the food industry is also long-lived. Among other jobs, she worked over a year as an executive for the stonemill Meunerie Milanaise (Alegria’s former owner) before she left to go into business with her life partner Éric. Who says love and business don’t mix?
When they bought the brand name Alegria in 2008, along with all the company’s recipes and production equipment, it was a return to deep roots for Éric, and a logical way forward for Marie-Hélène.
“We’ve refreshed the company’s image and branding [...] in order to serve our customers better and to keep our prices competitive.”
While Marie-Hélène manages Pâtes Biologiques Alegria, Éric deals with sales and market research, and their daughter Noémie (who’s a true people-person) scours farmers' markets to give people an opportunity to try their pasta and to understand what makes them so unique: meticulously chosen local organic flours, attention to detail, traditional Italian recipes and techniques.
Although Marie-Hélène and Éric now own Alegria, the working relationship with Meunerie Milanaise continues.
Produced in Stornoway, in the Eastern Townships, Alegria pasta contain no improvement or stabilizing agents. They contain only high quality flours and semolina, stone-ground by Meunerie Milanaise and made from organic, GMO-free cereal with full traceability.
The result? All 40 varieties and cuts of pasta sold by Alegria are certified organic, have a high fibre content, great nutritional properties, and cook faster than most commercial pasta - ready in 5 minutes.
Pâtes Biologiques Alegria is certified by Ecocert, Aliments du Québec, and Créateurs de saveurs Cantons-de-l’Est.